Great Barrier Reef coral cover rebounds to 35.1% despite bleaching

A variety of corals form an outcrop on Flynn Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Credits - WIkimedia Commons The last two years have been a tale of two extremes for the Great Barrier Reef.” In 2025, the northern region of the reef experienced its biggest annual decline in coral cover on record, dropping to just 30% after a catastrophic mass bleaching event. It was a sobering milestone in a long history of climate-induced disruptions. But just one year later, fresh surveys have revealed a surprising twist. Although another bleaching event hit in early 2026, the amount of coral in the north has risen to 35.1 per cent.The findings, published in August 2026 by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), present a rare glimmer of hope for the world’s largest reef of coral system. They show that even in the face of repeated heat stress, the reef retains a capacity to recover, if given the right conditions.A year of record fallsIn the summer of 2024–25, sea temperatures were above average across the Great Barrier Reef, resulting in widespread coral bleaching. When AIMS completed its annual surveys in the middle of 2025, the results were stark. H...